Crop Insurance for Pennsylvania Vegetable Crops

Multi-peril crop insurance is a valuable risk management tool that allows you to insure against losses on your farm due to adverse weather conditions and unavoidable pests and diseases. It shifts unavoidable production risks to an insurance company for the payment of a fixed amount of premium per acre. In recent years, around $500 million in crop insurance protection has been purchased by agricultural producers annually in Pennsylvania. Nearly $400 million has been paid to farmers for losses in the past ten years. Flood was is the largest cause of loss in vegetable crops (49%), followed by excess moisture (47%) (Table 1).

The crop insurance program is the centerpiece of the Federal government's effort to provide a safety net for farmers. Crop insurance is available nationwide and gives you the freedom to choose the level of coverage you need based on your own risk experiences and preferences. A wide range of insurance plans are available for over 100 commodities (a listing of various types of coverage can be found on the USDA-Risk Management Agency's website.) A minimum level of crop insurance, called Catastrophic Risk Protection or CAT insurance, is available to all farmers regardless of size. There is no premium cost (all premiums are paid by the federal government) for CAT coverage; there is however an administrative fee of $655 for each crop insured in a county. Higher levels of crop insurance (buy-up protection) are also federally subsidized, with farmers nationwide paying only 33 to 62 percent of the actual cost of the insurance (depending on the level of coverage selected). Under the 2018 Farm Bill, farmers must obtain a policy or plan of insurance for all crops (with limited exceptions) through either crop insurance or the noninsured assistance program (NAP, available through USDA-Farm Service Agency) to be eligible for future disaster assistance programs. Under the 2018 Farm Bill, to be eligible for future disaster assistance programs you must obtain a policy or plan of insurance for all crops (with limited exceptions) through either crop insurance or the noninsured assistance program (NAP, available through USDA-Farm Service Agency). To be eligible for crop insurance subsidies, you must also be in conservation compliance, demonstrating that your operation conforms to highly erodible land and wetland conservation provisions.

Crop insurance policies are available for at least one commodity in every county in Pennsylvania, with a total of 36 policies available to provide protection for a wide variety of agricultural businesses. Vegetable crops covered include processing green beans, cabbage, green peas, fresh-market and processing sweet corn, fresh-market and processing tomatoes, and potatoes (tablestock and chipping). Although vegetable crops only account for a small proportion of all the acres covered by crop insurance in Pennsylvania, they represent a high value of insurance coverage sold on a per acre basis.

The purpose of this publication is to help you understand how crop insurance can help you manage risk by:

• introducing the types of crop insurance products available.
• explaining how an actual production history (APH) is calculated.
• discussing what is meant by insurance units.
• illustrating how insurance premiums and loss payments are calculated.
• comparing the cost of crop insurance and the levels of cash-flow protection available.
• listing important crop insurance deadlines in Pennsylvania.

Types of crop insurance plans

Vegetable growers can purchase

• yield protection crop insurance,
• dollar value protection, and
• whole-farm revenue protection.

Yield protection coverage at various levels of protection is available for nine vegetable crops in a limited number of Pennsylvania counties. Dollar plan coverage is available in every county (except Philadelphia) for fresh-market sweet corn. Revenue-based insurance protection is also available on a whole-farm basis (Whole-Farm Revenue Protection, WFRP) in every county in Pennsylvania.  A complete listing of crop insurance availability by county is included at the end of this article.

If crop insurance is not available for a crop you grow in your county, coverage may still be available via a written agreement.  If you are in a county where premium rates are not established for a crop which is insured elsewhere in the U.S., you may be able to get protection provided that you have acceptable production records for the past three years, for that or a similar crop. Contact a crop insurance agent for more information on using written agreements.

Before selecting a given crop insurance policy or level of protection, you should first consider how much financial risk you are willing and able to bear and what you need to protect. Some common risk-management objectives are:

1. reducing year-to-year income variability.
2. providing a minimum cash flow to cover input costs.
3. securing adequate credit.

Plans of insurance available

Yield protection (YP) insurance protects you against losses due to natural causes such as drought, excessive moisture, hail, wind, frost, and unavoidable insects and diseases. Under this plan you select from 50 to 75 percent (and up to 85% for processing sweet corn and potatoes) of the amount of your average yield to insure. You can also select between 55 and 100 percent of the crop price determined annually by the USDA's Risk Management Agency (referred to as the "projected price"). If your harvested production plus any appraised production is less than the yield you insured, you are paid for the loss based on the difference multiplied by the price you selected when the crop insurance was purchased and by your share in the crop. Yield protection insurance is available in a limited number of counties in Pennsylvania for processing green beans, cabbage, green peas, potatoes, processing sweet corn, processing tomatoes, and fresh-market tomatoes.

Catastrophic Risk Protection (CAT) is an insurance-based producer safety net that provides a minimum level of protection against crop losses that reflects your actual production history. Per acre insurance premiums for CAT are totally paid by the federal government. For a flat application fee of $655/crop/county, you get a crop insurance yield guarantee of 50 percent of your operation's actual production history yield, with any losses reimbursed at 55 percent of the established crop price. Compared to higher levels of coverage, CAT provides only a low level of protection against yield losses. For some diversified growers this low level of coverage may be enough to protect them against severe cash-flow shortfalls. However, because of the high administrative fee charged for CAT coverage, many smaller vegetable growers may be able to obtain higher levels of protection at less overall cost per acre with buy-up levels of coverage available through a yield protection policy.

Dollar Plan (Dollar) coverage provides protection against declining value due to damage that causes a yield shortfall. The amount of insurance is based on the cost of growing a crop in a specific area. A loss occurs when the annual value of the crop is less than the amount of insurance. The maximum dollar amount of insurance is stated on the actuarial document. Growers may select a percent of the maximum dollar amount equal to CAT (catastrophic level of coverage) or additional coverage levels. The Dollar plan is available for fresh-market sweet corn in every county in Pennsylvania (except Philadelphia).

Whole-Farm Revenue Protection insures the revenue of your entire farm rather than individual crops by guaranteeing a percentage of your approved farm revenue. You can buy WFRP alone or with other buy-up level crop insurance policies. For example, if you raise other insurable crops along with your vegetables, you could cover them under individual crop insurance policies and use WFRP as an umbrella policy over the rest of your operation. You cannot use CAT coverage with WFRP.

WFRP uses information from your Schedule F tax records (or a "Substitute Schedule F for WFRP Purposes" if you do not file a Schedule F) from the past five consecutive years of to calculate the policy's approved revenue guarantee. Operations that have expanded over time may be allowed to increase the approved revenue amount based on an indexing procedure. Depending on the number of commodities grown, you have the choice of coverage of 50-85% of your approved revenue (CAT level coverage is not available for WFRP). Coverage and premium costs depend on the level of diversification in your operation; the maximum level of insured revenue is $8.5 million (based on maximum adjusted gross revenues of $17.0 million and the 50% coverage level). WFRP also provides replant coverage if it is not already covered under an underlying individual crop policy.

Claims for losses under WFRP are settled after taxes are filed for the insurance year. The sign-up deadline is March 15 for calendar year and early fiscal year tax filers and November 20 for late fiscal year tax filers. More information on WFRP can be found online at: "Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP)."

Hurricane Insurance Protection-Wind Index (HIP-WI) Endorsement can help cover some of the deductible in your underlying crop insurance policy when your county, or a county adjacent to it, is declared to have experienced sustained hurricane-force winds from a named hurricane. The hurricane insurance protection-wind index (HIP-WI) endorsement can be added to your crop insurance coverage in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and Philadelphia Counties.

Settlement of any claims will be made within 30 days after the list of counties identified as meeting the county loss trigger is determined by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

To be eligible for the HIP-WI Endorsement, you must:

• Have an underlying crop insurance policy
• Elect HIP-WI on or before the sales closing date for the underlying policy
• Elect a HIP-WI coverage percentage; and
• Comply with all terms and conditions of the HIP-WI Endorsement.

Because this is an index-based insurance product, there are no separate acreage reporting requirements and you are not required to file a notice of loss. There is a separate administrative fee and premium charged for participation in this optional coverage. The premium subsidy for this program is 65%

Additional coverage provisions for vegetables

Certain vegetable crops have additional coverage provisions. These include:

• Prevented planting coverage provides protection whenever an eligible crop can not be planted because of adverse weather conditions, provided it is a condition general to the geographic area. In Pennsylvania, prevented planting coverage is automatically part of all green pea, processing sweet corn, processing bean, and potato policies (including CAT policies). Basic prevented planting coverage provides an amount of protection equal to 25 percent of the insurance guarantee for potatoes and 40 percent for green peas, processing sweet corn, and processing beans. Higher levels of protection at the 30 and 35 percent level for potatoes and the 45 and 50 percent level for green peas, processing sweet corn, and processing beans are available for additional premium.
• Replanting provisions allow for coverage of some replanting costs for eligible crops if a given level of loss is attained (for example, fresh-market and processing tomatoes).
• Stage guarantees are set for fresh-market sweet corn, fresh-market tomatoes, and processing tomatoes based on the crop stage of development. This means that your crop insurance indemnity payment will be reduced if your crop loss occurs before maturity. This reduction in guarantee reflects the absence of harvesting costs and certain other crop production expenses (primarily pest management costs) that are not incurred if the crop is not carried to harvest.
• Certain vegetable crops are insured by type. Examples include cabbage (green and red fresh cabbage), peas (shell type and pod type), and processing beans (snap and lima).
• Prices for green peas and chipping potatoes are set based on your processor contract. Potato growers have the choice of optional coverage for storage losses and for certified seed production.
• Crop insurance does not cover losses associated with machinery breakdowns, bypassed production, or failure to meet the requirements contained in a processor contract.
• Rotational restrictions may apply to the vegetable crop you grow because of the potential for disease problems.

Be sure to check with your crop insurance agent to make sure you understand how these types of provisions may affect your coverage.

Crop insurance coverage for organic farmers

Organically grown crops may also be eligible for crop insurance coverage. Coverage is available for certified organic acreage, transitional acreage, and buffer zones. When reporting acreage, you must have written certification for your organic and transitional acreage and records from a certifying agency of the location of your organic production. Organic price elections or insurance dollar amounts are determined by RMA for the current crop year. Premiums may be adjusted to recognize any additional risk associated with covering organic crop acreage. Coverage for organic crops sometimes requires use of a written agreement; check with your crop insurance agent for more information.

Determining your actual production history

The first step in developing a crop insurance program is to establish your actual production history (APH). Assessing the need for crop insurance protection must be based on your operation's production potential and risk exposure. It is a good idea to establish the APH for each insurance unit with a crop insurance agent long before the sign-up date. An APH yield is needed even if you are only interested in the catastrophic (CAT) level of coverage.

Establishing an APH yield requires a minimum of four years of records for each crop and land unit to be insured. Examples of information used to prove crop yields include field records, sale receipts, and farm or commercial storage records. The records must be for continuous years, starting with the most recent year and continuing back in time. Once a missing year is reached, no yield data before that year may be used. Dropping out a yield from one year because of poor production is not allowed. It is not considered a missing year of records if the crop to be insured was not planted in a certain year. In that case, a zero-acreage report is submitted, and continuous records are maintained even without data for that year. This is especially important for growers who rotate crops.

If at least four successive years of records are not available, a transitional or T-yield is substituted for each missing year. Each insured crop within a county has an assigned T-yield. It is usually based on the latest available 10-year county average yield. Established growers with no records at all are assigned 65 percent of the T-yield as their APH yield. Growers with one year of records receive 80 percent of the T-yield for the other three years to calculate their APH yield. Growers with two years of records receive 90 percent of the T-yield for the other two years. Growers with three years of records receive 100 percent of the T-yield for the one remaining year. Once each year has been assigned a yield, the APH is an average of the four yields. If only a couple years of yield records exist, the APH yield may be considerably below the actual expected yield, because of the reduced T-yields.

New growers or those who have never planted the crop to be in the county to be insured receive 100 percent of the T-yield for determining their APH yield. If they continue to plant the crop for four years, the T-yields will be replaced with the actual production each year. New growers who have been closely associated with a particular farming operation, such as a child or someone else who has been actively involved in the management of the farm in prior years, may be able to use the previous operator's records to establish their APH yield.

When at least four years of production history are available, the APH is the average of all the yearly reported yields. Additional years of data will be averaged into the APH yield until a maximum of 10 years are included. Once the maximum number of years of yields is available, the APH becomes a 10-year moving average. When a new year of production history is added, the oldest record is dropped from the APH calculation.

Generally, when a new yield record is added to your APH history, the APH cannot decrease by more than 10 percent in any one year. The APH can not fall to less than 70 percent of the T-yield for growers with only one year of yield records, 75 percent for growers with two to four years of yield records, or 80 percent for growers with five or more years of yield records. This "floor" prevents one year with a severe crop failure from having a disproportionately large influence on your APH yield, especially when only a few years of yield records are available. There is also an option to substitute 60 percent of the T-yield for actual yields that are less than 60 percent of the T-yield. There is a slightly higher premium when this option is selected.

Selecting an insurance unit for crop insurance

As a vegetable grower you have two options on how you divide your land to determine APH yields, loss payments, and premiums under crop insurance. Each parcel of land for which claims are calculated is called an "insurance unit." Unit types include basic and optional units. Your farming operation may contain several insurance units. In this situation, it is possible to have a crop loss on one unit and receive a loss payment, while the other units on the same farm produce above average yields. Because of this, you may prefer to divide your land into as many units as possible. You should check with a crop insurance agent to find out how many and what type of insurance units your crops qualify for, and how this could affect your premiums.

Basic units. You receive one basic unit for the land you own and cash rent within a county. You also receive one basic unit for each landlord with whom you crop share rent. A crop share landowner can also insure their own interest in the crop as a separate unit. Each different crop also creates a separate unit, and tracts of land in different counties must be insured as separate units. Each crop/county can have a different type of policy and level of coverage and could receive a loss payment separate from the other units. Separate production records must be kept for each basic unit. Insuring all your acres as basic units will lower your premiums by approximately 10 percent. CAT policies are only eligible for basic units.

Optional units. Basic units may be divided into optional units when a crop is being grown under distinctly different production practices. For example, a grower with both irrigated and non-irrigated acres of the same crop may qualify for optional units. Other special farming types or practices may also qualify acres to be insured as separate units. Optional units may also be established by FSA farm serial number. Separate APH records must be maintained and reported for each optional unit. You would not receive the 10 percent premium discount allowed for basic units.

How crop insurance premiums are calculated

Crop insurance premiums depend on your APH yield (or maximum dollar amount of insurance for dollar plans crops such as fresh market sweet corn), the coverage level you prefer, the price election you select, your chosen unit structure, and the county premium rate for the insurance plan you chose. Based on the level of coverage and the crop being insured, you pay between 33 and 62 percent of the calculated premium, with the federal government paying the balance. If you use basic units rather than optional units, you are eligible for an additional premium discount.

You can select a coverage level of 50, 55, 60, 65, 70, or 75 percent (and 80 and 85 percent for processing sweet corn and potatoes) of your APH yield. By multiplying your APH yield by the coverage level you select, you calculate your yield guarantee, which is the trigger level for receiving a payment for yield losses from the insurance company. In a sense, selecting a coverage level establishes your "deductible," similar to the deductible on your automobile or homeowner's insurance. For example, if a coverage level of 75 percent is selected, then you "self-insure" for the first 25 percent of the loss. If the loss is more than 25 percent, crop insurance would cover the difference. Like other types of insurance, higher levels of deductible have lower premiums, but also leave you with more risk. You also have some choice of the price election (percentage of the established crop price), depending on the yield guarantee selected. Selecting a lower level of price election lowers premiums. In practice, however, most growers select the 100 percent price election.

An important thing to remember about crop insurance premiums is that premium rates are directly tied to your APH yield, the projected price or price elections, and any optional coverage you choose for the crop that you are insuring. Whenever projected prices and optional coverage change, your amount of crop insurance protection and premiums will also change.

Some important crop insurance equations

Yield protection policy guarantees and premiums:

Yield guarantee = APH yield x coverage level
Total premium/acre = Yield guarantee x price election x county premium rate
Subsidy amount = Total premium/acre x subsidy factor
Producer premium/acre = Total premium/acre – subsidy amount

Yield protection policy loss payments:

If actual yield is less than the yield guarantee:
Loss payment = (yield guarantee – actual production) x price election

If actual yield is equal to or greater than the yield guarantee:
Loss payment = 0

Dollar plan guarantees and premiums:

Dollar guarantee = County maximum amount of coverage x coverage level
Total premium/acre = Dollar guarantee x county premium rate
Subsidy amount = Total premium/acre x subsidy factor
Producer premium/acre = Total premium/acre – subsidy amount

Dollar plan loss payments:

If the value of production to count is less than the Dollar guarantee:
Loss payment = Dollar guarantee – value of production to count

If the value of production to count is greater than or equal to the Dollar guarantee:
Loss payment = 0

Comparing crop insurance alternatives for vegetable crops

To demonstrate the different types and levels of crop insurance protection available to a Pennsylvania vegetable producer, tablestock potatoes and fresh-market sweet corn will be used as examples. The grower wants to compare the cost and protection afforded by various levels of yield protection insurance (for tablestock potatoes) and dollar plan coverage (for fresh-market sweet corn) versus having no crop insurance. The examples presented in Tables 2 and 3 assume hypothetical indemnity prices of $29.55 per cwt for potatoes and dollar plan coverage of $1,215 per acre for sweet corn and reflect premiums that assume the grower selected optional units. The grower has a potato APH yield of 250 cwt. per acre.

In Table 2 you can see how yield protection insurance protects the growers' cash flow from potatoes. In this example, CAT level coverage would pay the grower $2,032/A for a total crop loss. Higher levels of coverage provide even more cash-flow protection for the grower. A minimum cash flow of $3,554 to $5,254/A is guaranteed in exchange for a producer-paid premium of $104-$1,025/A. In Table 3 you can see how dollar plan insurance protects the growers' cash flow from fresh-market sweet corn. In this example, CAT level coverage would pay the grower $395/A for a total crop loss. Higher levels of coverage would guarantee a minimum cash flow of $685-$954/A in exchange for a producer-paid premium of $32.70 to $121.60/A. As the level of crop insurance protection goes up, a less-variable cash flow is guaranteed for both crops.

The only advantage of having no crop insurance is saving the premium cost (but this is lessened because crop insurance is a deductible business expense). Elimination of this cost would have a minor positive impact on your cash flow during good years and a potentially disastrous impact on your cash flow in a poor year. Choosing a crop insurance plan and level of coverage is a personal business decision. Not everyone feels the same about production risk and everyone has different financial resources. One way to choose would be to determine how much cash-flow protection you need and pick a coverage level, price election, and insurance unit combination that accomplishes your goal.

Crop insurance benefits for beginning farmers

If you are starting your own farming business, you may be eligible for additional crop insurance benefits. These include:

• eligibility for an additional 10% premium subsidy for buy-up coverage,
• exemption from the administrative fee for catastrophic (CAT) and buy up policies,
• use of the production history of an existing farming operation (if you were previously involved in the decision making or physical activities of the farm), and
• use of an 80% yield plug for replacing low APH yields (rather than the 60% yield plug available to everyone else).

These benefits are available if you and all others with a beneficial interest (10 percent or more) in the business have not actively operated or managed a farm with an insurable interest in any crop or livestock for more than 5 years. You can exclude a crop year's insurable interest if you were under age 18, enrolled in post-secondary studies, or on active duty in the U.S. military. For more information on programs to assist new and beginning farmers, visit USDA's New Farmers website.

How can I find a crop insurance agent?

Although crop insurance is a federally subsidized program, it is sold by private crop insurance agents:

• Ask your neighbors for their recommendations. Other growers are one of the best sources of information on where to find a knowledgeable crop insurance agent.
• Check with the insurance agency where you purchase other types of insurance. Often you can obtain crop insurance through an agent you already use for your farm, automobile, liability, fire, health, or life insurance needs. Many insurance agencies have agents who specialize in crop insurance.
• Check with businesses or organizations you use for farm business management services. Your banker, cooperative, or a farm organization you belong to may be able to recommend insurance agencies who handle crop insurance.
• A list of crop insurance agents in your area can be found on the USDA Risk Management Agency's website.

Important crop insurance dates

Deadlines for sales closing, final planting date, acreage reporting, billing, and contract changes for Pennsylvania crop insurance products are listed in Table 4. As a crop insurance participant, you need to be aware of several important dates for filing information and reporting losses:

Sales Closing Date (enrollment and policy change date)—last day to apply for coverage or make changes to the policy; the sign-up deadline.

Earliest planting date—acreage planted before this date is not eligible for replanting payments.

Final planting date—last day to plant with full coverage. Late planting may be covered at reduced levels for some crops.

Acreage reporting date—last day to report the acreage as planted. If not reported, insurance may not be in effect.

Date to file notice of crop damage—within 72 hours of initial discovery of damage (but not later than 15 days after the end of the insurance period for each insurance unit). There may be additional requirements by crop. An adjuster must have the opportunity to inspect the crop before it is destroyed or put to another use.

Payment due date—last day to pay the premium without being charged interest.

Cancellation date—last day to request cancellation of policy for the next year (same date as sales closing date).

Production reporting date—last day to report production for your Actual Production History (APH).

Debt termination date—date insurance company will terminate policy for nonpayment.

Premium Billing date—date crop insurance premiums are billed.  Crop insurance premiums may be deferred until 30 days after the billing date without interest charges.

End of insurance period—the date when your crop insurance coverage ends.  Any notices of crop damage must be filed within 15 days of the end of the insurance period.

Farm Service Agency risk management program for vegetable producers

The federal government has other programs administered through USDA-FSA that are designed to help farmers manage risk. However, with exception of the Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP), most are designed for agronomic crops and dairy farms. For more information on USDA-FSA programs or to find the location of your local FSA office visit the USDA Farm Service Agency website. 

Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program (NAP). The Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP) provides financial assistance to producers of crops for which multi-peril crop insurance coverage is not available. NAP is designed to help reduce financial losses when natural disasters cause major reductions in production. The basic level of NAP coverage is similar to that provided by CAT policies for insurable crops (50 percent of expected production at 55 percent of the average market price). Higher levels of protection at the 50, 55, 60, and 65 percent levels at 100 percent of the average market price are available for additional premium.

Producers eligible for the NAP program include landowners, tenants, and sharecroppers who produce eligible crops and who have less than $900,000 in adjusted gross revenue annually. Payments are limited to $125,000 for basic coverage or up to $300,000 for higher levels of coverage per crop year. To purchase NAP coverage, you pay a service fee of $325 per crop per county (with fees capped at $825 per producer per county, but not to exceed a total of $1,950 for producers growing crops in multiple counties). For higher levels of coverage, a 5.25% premium also applies (maximum premium is $15,570 based on the $300,000 maximum payment limitation). Sign up deadlines and coverage periods for NAP vary by crop; contact your local FSA office for more information.

More information on crop insurance and agricultural risk management options

United States Department of Agriculture, Risk Management Agency

United States Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency

United States Department of Agriculture, New Farmers

Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Risk Management

National Ag Risk Education Library

Northeast Center for Risk Management Education

This publication is for educational purposes only and does not cover all aspects of the risk management options described.  For specific information about how crop insurance can help you manage risk on your operation, make an appointment to go over your options with a crop insurance agent.  For more information about the NAP program, contact your local USDA-FSA office.

Level of crop insurance protection¹

Notes:

¹CAT: catastrophic crop insurance (yield protection); available at no premium cost to the producer (application fee of $655/crop/county).
Yield: higher levels of yield protection insurance ("buy-up protection") available for additional premium ($30/crop application fee).
²Premiums quoted do not include the seed potato price or quality options; your premiums may be higher or lower depending on the county where you farm and the price options you choose. Optional units are used for premium calculation; selecting basic units would reduce premiums by approximately 10%.
³The administrative fee is charged for each underlying policy, regardless of number of acres.

Notes:

¹CAT-- catastrophic crop insurance (Dollar plan coverage); available at no premium cost to the producer (application fee of $655/crop/county).
Dollar-- higher levels of Dollar plan insurance ("buy-up protection") available for additional premium ($30/crop application fee).
²Your premiums may be higher or lower depending on the county where you farm and the other options you may choose.  Optional units are used for premium calculation; selecting basic units would reduce premiums by approximately 10%.
³The administrative fee is charged for each underlying policy, regardless of number of acres.

¹WFRP— whole-farm revenue protection insurance, with loss payments based on revenue shortfalls relative to a guaranteed percentage of your approved farm revenue.
-- APH— actual production history insurance, with loss payments based on yield shortfalls relative to a guaranteed percentage of your APH yield and an indemnity price established annually by USDA-RMA.
-- Yield—yield protection insurance, with loss payments based on yield shortfalls relative to a guaranteed percentage of your APH yield and a projected price based on Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) data.
-- Revenue— revenue protection insurance plans (including with and without harvest price exclusion), with loss payment based on gross revenue guarantee based on your APH yield and CBOT prices.
-- Dollar— dollar plan, with loss payment based on value of your crop relative to the dollar amount of insurance.
-- AYP— area yield protection insurance.  Loss payments are based on relative county yield level and your selected yield trigger.
-- RI— loss payments are based on a rainfall index based on NOAA data.  You choose the coverage level, protection factor trigger, and when the insurance protection is in force.
-- LGM— livestock gross margin, loss payment based on difference between your expected gross margin and actual gross margin.
-- LRP— livestock risk protection, loss payment based on difference between your actual price and coverage price.

²Final planting date varies throughout the state.  Some crops also have initial planting dates which indicates the earliest a crop may be planted and still remain eligible for replanting coverage, if such coverage is available for the crop.

³March 15 for calendar year or early fiscal year tax filers, November 20 for late fiscal year tax filers.

⁴July 1 of the following season.

⁵April 30 for cigar-filler tobacco and May 15 for Maryland-type tobacco. 

Crop Insurance Availability in Pennsylvania by County